Since Brian Niccol took over as Starbucks CEO last September, he’s been promising to counter slow sales by revitalizing the company’s commitment to being a “third place”—a space where customers sit and stay a while.
But in the short term, his bigger win may come in the form of foam.
At the Starbucks Leadership Experience event in Las Vegas this week—a gathering of some 14,000 Starbucks managers and employees—the company unveiled a more appealing food menu. The new additions include a flakier fresh-baked croissant (which tasted better than the company’s current option, but not Parisian level) and a double chocolate cookie (rich, though quite salty). But even more interesting and important than the changes to the food menu is Starbucks’s new trick that can turn any coffee into a protein-packed meal.
Protein Cold Foam could be Starbucks’s most important innovation since the Pumpkin Spice Latte. Experientially, it’s indistinguishable from the cold foam you know, but it’s loaded with somewhere between 15 and 18 grams of protein.
Cold foam—in flavors like vanilla and salted caramel—is already one of Starbucks’s most popular coffee add-ons. The company is now using that topping to tap into our insatiable appetite for protein.
In 2024, 61% of consumers increased their protein intake, up from 48% in 2019, according to a recent study from food giant Cargill. Today, everything from candy bars and snack chips to sparkling beverages are jumping on the “proteinization” trend, promising a boost for a populace convinced that the more protein in one’s diet, the better.
Starbucks observed consumer behavior, too: Customers have been bringing their own protein mixes through their morning drive-through, and stirring or shaking them into Starbucks drinks.
So Starbucks developed a proprietary unsweetened protein blend. It’s somewhat reminiscent of the company’s now discontinued Vivanno smoothie, a frozen blended coffee drink loaded with whey protein that I adored but a representative admits was “ahead of its time.” But this time, instead of mixing the protein into a smoothie, Starbucks wanted to put it into a larger swath of menu items.
The problem? Starbucks originally imagined this new protein blend would simply mix into drinks, and it kept getting clumpy (a problem that will be familiar to any protein powder fan). The Starbucks development team set up in a test store two weeks ago to work the problem out. As it turned out, blending the powder into foam got rid of the clumps. (I imagine it’s technically an emulsification, in which dairy fats wrap their way around any gritty particles.)
While that makes for a nice story, I was skeptical as Starbucks reps brought out the company’s new Banana Protein Cold Foam for a taste test. Only when I took a sip did I believe: It was silky, sweet, and not at all chalky. I never would have known it had a meal’s worth of protein inside. The banana flavor smacked me on the lips—strong, sweet, but mellow once I stirred it in.
Starbucks is tight-lipped about when the Banana Protein Cold Foam will begin appearing on menus, but says it will also be available in flavors like chocolate (and even unflavored) down the line. I can imagine any cold foam getting a protein version, transforming an indulgence into a semiresponsible snack.
Reframing the $8 morning coffee into a more nourishing meal is a smart way to keep people coming back at a time when many Americans are feeling their wallets pinched. Starbucks’s North American same-store sales fell 1% for the quarter than ended on March 30, and by 4% during the last four months of 2024. The average ticket size, however, has been growing—by 4% and 3% for the past two quarters. The new cold foam could help drive people into stores, as well as boost the cost of their drinks, depending on how it’s priced.
“This thing is going to be a rocket,” Niccol said on stage in Las Vegas, introducing the new menu item to his employees. “It’s on trend. It’s delicious.”
And I have to say, I’m inclined to agree.
